Georgia launching health insurance exchange Nov. 1

The federal government has given Georgia the go-ahead to launch a state-based health insurance exchange proponents say will give Georgians better health coverage and offer health-care providers higher reimbursements.

The new exchange, Georgia Access, will launch Nov. 1, Gov. Brian Kemp said Monday during a roundtable discussion updating the state's health-insurance initiatives. "This platform will enable hardworking Georgians to compare their health-insurance options more easily so they can make the decision that best fits their family's needs," Kemp said.

Kemp made creating a "Georgia-centric" alternative to the federal version of health coverage provided through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a priority of his administration when he took office in 2019. The General Assembly passed legislation that year that gave birth to two initiatives -Georgia Access, the statebased health-insurance exchange, and Georgia Pathways, a limited expansion of the state's Medicaid program.

On Monday, Kemp said the two initiatives are providing coverage to more than 714, 000 Georgians with incomes below 138% of the federal poverty level. Of that number, 400, 000 who were previously on Medicaid are now enrolled in a commercial insurance plan through Georgia Access, he said.

Enrollment growth in Georgia Access is outpacing the national average by 30%, state Commissioner of Insurance John King said.

"We are restoring control over our health coverage to the people of Georgia," he said.

Russel Carlson, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health, which runs the Georgia Pathways program, said the agency launched a public outreach website Aug. 1 to provide information on the initiative. The site has generated 68, 000 visits in just its initial weeks, he said.

"I'm very optimistic about the months ahead," he said. Republican Kemp's efforts in the health-insurance space have long gotten pushback from Democrats advocating a full-blown expansion of Medicaid under the ACA, as 40 other states have done. But Kemp said his state-based approach has proven the better choice. "We have covered more Georgians with better insurance at lower costs," he said. "Those facts are clear and undeniable."